I am an evil giraffe. Who no longer blogs about politics.

Description: it’s a giant ground sloth, maybe a bit smaller than Megatherium. The species is also a good deal less fussy about its plant-based diet than Megatherium was, and has adapted to grain- and fungi-based diets with some enthusiasm. Riding Sloths have also been somewhat adapted for humanoid riders at this point. The species instinctively herds, even in captivity.

Yes, Riding Sloths move extremely slowly. They can also climb up rock slopes and carry up to five hundred pounds while doing it, which is why Dwarves love them. But not as much as Gnomes do. The Gnomes are the ones who really systemically breed them; they’ve got variants with different-colored pelts, better grips, increased intelligence, plus one particularly interesting breed that can be used to tow artillery pieces and also kind of be sort of handy in combat, although that last one is more or less still in the implementation stage.

Most Riding Sloths, however, are perfectly peaceful creatures that are domesticable and even friendly around humanoid races. Again, they’re definitely slow. But they’re also extremely strong, and nothing else that big climbs like they do. Most domesticated Riding Sloths have special metal ‘claws’ to make it easier to climb; despite their fearsome look, these claws are rarely useful for defense. Although the Gnomish breeders attempting to create a War Sloth are doing their best to change that.